THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) can afford to keep its policy rate steady for the rest of the year even if the US Federal Reserve follows through with two more rate hikes, economists said.

If the peso does not weaken substantially like it did last year in the wake of aggressive tightening by the US central bank, 'we think that the BSP can keep its terminal rate at 6.25 percent for the rest of the year even with a narrower interest rate differential with the US Federal Reserve,' China Banking Corp. chief economist Domini Velasquez said.